Manage your subscription

When humans are wiped from Earth, the chicken bones will remain

John Kuczala/Getty

IF HUMANS vanish, one of the most enduring records of our time on Earth will be the sudden upsurge in the fossil record of chicken bones.

Geologists have proposed that the age of humans constitutes a new epoch in Earth’s history, known as the Anthropocene. The explosion in chicken farming and rapid change in the bones of the birds because of selective breeding make their remains an ideal sign of our time.

Carys Bennett at the University of Leicester, UK, says this will eventually result in a layer of fossils that are indicative of our existence. They will …